High court deals surrogacy blow, rules not backed by legislation
Monday July 20 2020
A couple had moved to court to seek clearance for a hospital to carry out surrogacy after trying to have a baby for ten years in vain. PHOTO | FILE | NATION
Kicukiro Primary Court in Kigali dealt surrogacy a big blow in its ruling, bringing an end to arguments whether surrogacy is legal in the country.
Surrogacy is still a relatively new phenomenon in Rwanda, but a few couples have over the years expressed interests in the arrangement.
It involves fertilisation of reproductive cells in laboratories and placing the embryo in another woman's womb to give carry the pregnancy and eventually deliver the child.
The process raised debate on who would be legally considered the parents of a baby born out of surrogacy.
In a ruling on June 30, on the plea lodged by a 40-year old man and his 33-year old wife, the court said there was no provision that embraces surrogacy as a way of reproduction in Rwandan laws.
“The law provides that assisted repro-duction occurs between a man and a woman while the petitioners are seeking reproduction between two families which is out of the law,” the single judge jury ruled.
The couple had 10 years of marriage on infertility treatment to have a child in vain until early this year when medics confirmed that the woman had reproductive constraints that cannot allow her to conceive and carry a baby in her womb.
Lawyers of the couple argued that the 2016 law governing persons and family recognises assisted reproduction beyond husband.
“The law says that reproduction can be medically assisted and that it must be by mutual consent of the concerned parties. This means that there can be parties beyond husband and wife” the lawyers argued.
The infertile couple had taken the medical report to Rwanda Military Hospital, asking doctors to take the couple’s reproductive cells for fertilisation in laboratory and place the fertilised ovum into an embryo in another woman of the willing couple with whom they had agreements on the cost.
“The hospital wanted an endorsement from a court on who would be the legal parent of the baby” between the owner of the embryo and the woman who carried and produced the baby,” the infertile couple explained to the court during their submission.